The present invention relates to fishing reels, and more particularly to an anti-reverse fly fishing reel having a replaceable spool and a drag control mechanism mounted on a releasable crank assembly.
One type of fishing enjoyed by many people is fly fishing. In fly fishing, a lure known as a "fly" is attached to a line controlled by a fishing rod and reel. The fly fisherman casts the line and fly in a manner which delivers the fly to a selected location. Many fly fishermen become quite proficient at delivering a fly with accuracy to a desired location on the surface of a body of water, with an impact force that closely resembles that of a particular insect on that body of water.
Fly fishing equipment is often very sophisticated. Fly rods are made of bamboo, light weight composites and other materials which have specific flex characteristics that may vary over the length of the rod in accordance with patterns which aid casting. Fly lines generally comprise a length of relatively thin backing line, a taper section, a heavier leader and a tippet which facilitate the whipping out of the fly for presentation on the surface of the water. Each section of the line is manufactured with special characteristics to aid in the casting of the fly.
Fly reels have also developed into precision instruments. Such reels generally comprise a frame which is fixed to the fly rod and which supports a spindle, and a spool comprising a hub and two side walls. The spool may be releasably retained on the spindle which extends from the frame. The spool holds the line being used. Spools are often equipped with a counterweight and handle or other means of being rotated so that following a cast, a fly fisherman may retrieve his line and fly in a controlled manner. Additional controls may be included on a fly reel to aid in the control of the line. It is advantageous to fabricate the reels of high quality materials, such as aluminum alloy, which are precisely fitted to provide a smooth, well balanced mechanism.
Examples of prior art fishing reels can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,526,370 to Arsenault, 3,779,477 to Humble, 3,806,060 to Valentine, 4,515,325 to Ito, and 4,883,238 to Harder. The Arsenault patent discloses a fishing reel with an automatic drag brake. The provision of drag on the line enables the fisherman to control the rate at which a fish will pull the line off of the spool. The proper amount of drag will also prevent backlash and facilitate the effectiveness of the fisherman in "playing the fish."
Prior art drag mechanisms have been complicated and relatively difficult to adjust in order to apply the desired amount of drag. Typically, adjustable drag mechanisms have been located on the opposite side of the spool as the crank handle, requiring the fisherman to use different hands to retrieve the line and adjust the drag mechanism.
If the drag is not properly set, i.e., to less than the breaking strength of the line, a fish may snap the line. It is also desirable for the drag mechanism to provide the same breaking friction as running friction. In other words, the amount of force required to start the feeding of the line from the spool ("static friction") should approximately equal the amount of force required to continue to pull the line from the spool ("dynamic friction"). It would be advantageous to provide a fly fishing reel having a drag control that is adjustable on the same side of the reel as the crank, and which has comparable breaking and running friction.
It would be further advantageous to provide an anti-reverse fly fishing reel in which the crank can only be turned in one direction. Specifically, the crank should be able to be rotated in a direction necessary to wind the line back onto the spool. In such an anti-reverse reel, the crank would not turn when line is being withdrawn from the spool, e.g., by a fish.
It would be still further advantageous to provide a fly fishing reel assembly in which the crank, drag mechanism and spool are all easily removable from the housing or frame. Such a structure should allow spools to be easily interchanged with different spools carrying lines having different properties.
The present invention provides an anti-reverse fly fishing reel having the aforementioned and other advantages.